Section-locking mechanism for portable elevators.



W. E. BOEHCK & H. S. GERMOND, JR.

sEcTloN LocK|NG MECHANISM FOR PORTABLE ELEvAToRs.

APPLCATlON FILED APR.19|1913 97.597. PntentedSept. 12, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET INI I'l w. BOEHCK at H, s. GERMOND, 1R.

SECIION'LOCKING MECHANISM FOR PORTABLE ELEVATORS.

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i .aaien o 'WILLIAM EDWARD BOEHCK, 0F JERSEY CITY, AND HENRY SHELDEN GERMOND, JR., OF BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO NEW YORK REVOLVING PORTABLE ELEVATOR COMPANY, 0F. JERSEYCITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

SECTION-LOCKING vIfflECHANISlVIl FOR PORTABLE ELEVATORS.

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To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM EDWARD BoEHCK, a subject of the Emperor of Gen' many, residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, and HENRY SHELDEN GnRMoND, Jr., residing at Bayonne, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, a citizen of the United States of America, have invented certain new vand useful Improvements in Section- Locking `Mechanism for Portable Elevators, of which the following. is a speciiication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in portable elevators or tiering machines and particularly to improvements in portable elevatorsv which are sectional in construction; andan object of this linvention is to provide simple and eiicient manually-operated means for raising and loweringv the upper hinged section of a sectional portable elevator and for locking this section in place in normal or operative position.

Another object of this 'invention 1s the provision in a portable elevator having electrically-operated windlass mechanism, of

automatic means for giving to 'the switchoperating cable sufficient slack to permit the upper section to be lowered without putting the cab e under undue tension.

A. third object of this invention is the provision in a portable elevator having electrically-operated windlass mechanism, of means for automatically throwing the electric motor out of operation and setting the brakes at the upper and lower limits of travel of the load-carrying platform and releasing the brakes while the 'motor is running'.

In the drawings illustrating the principle of this invention and the best in ode now known to us of applying that principle, Figure 1 is an interior side elevation partly 1n section of so much of a portable elevator as is necessary to illustrate this invention the section being taken on the line A-A of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the upper portionA of the elevator, the view being taken in the direction of the ar-A row B in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on the line C-C of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary rear elevation, partly in SeCtion, of the base Specification of Letters Patent.

.upon the windla'ss-drum z'.

Patented sept. ie, raie..

Application filed April 19, 1913. Serial No. 762,302.

.form c. This platform is raised and lowered by means of windlass mechanism d which in the particular case-illustrated in the drawings 1s driven by an electric motor e. The platform-hoisting cable f passesv over the sheave g of the block t, one end of the hoisting cable f being attached to `the platform c and its other end being wound At the upper end of each of the standards b there is fastened a plate j'to which is hingedly secured at c the upper frame section m comprising side .standards o connected by transverse frame members b and braces b". Pivotally mountedin the top part of the section lmi is a U-shaped section-locking frame n' consisting of a. pair of arms 0 connected by the yoke p. l/Vhen the locking frame n is in its normal o'r locking position, the yoke p lies under the plates j (Fig. 3) of the main frame and is held securely in this position by means of a gravity-controlled catch g. When it is desired to lower the upper section m, the locking frame n -is thrown outwardly as is indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1; and the workman by pulling upon the locking frame n tilts the upper section m. After the latter has reached that point where its center of gravity lies outside of the pivotal points lc, the workman uses the locking frame 'rt as a means for supporting the hinged upper sec- I tion m in order that the descent of the same one side thereof, there is journaled a rock shaft 1' to one end of which is fastened a rocker-arm s having at its free lower end a rollerrt and to the other end of which is fastened a rocker-arm u which carries a sheave o. Near the base of the elevator there ismounted a pulleyw; and over the pulleys o, fw passes an endless cable :v upon which is fastenedv a pair of stops w', one of which is near the upper limit of travel of' the platform and the other of which is at the lower limit of'travel thereof. Journaled near the bottom and at one side of the main frame is a brake-and-switch controlling shaft i/ upon which is mounted fast an operating arm y the outer end of which is fastened tothe controlling cable Y The platform c carries an arm 2 formed vwith an eye 2', through which passes freely the endless controlling cable w. At' each limit of its travel, the arm 2 of the platform c strikes one of these stops m', w, moves `the cable and throws the operating arm y', whereby the motor-current is interrupted and the brake mechanism (Fig. 6) is set or applied. This brake mechanism is shown in Fig. 6 and may be briefly described as follows: On the 'shaft 3 there is loosely or .idly mounted a brake-disk 3 having an anlthe shaft 3 and arranged to turnfwithin the annular-flange 4 of the brake-disk 3. rlhe frame-members b. support a horizontally.- disposed bar 8 to each end o'f which is fastened an angle-bracket 9. In the lower ends of these brackets 9 there is journaled a camshaftg/ mounted fast upon which 1s a pair of cams l2. On each side of the brake-disk 3 there is arranged a brake-shoe or brakejaw 13 the lower end of which is formed with an edged projection 14 and with an eye 15. Through these eyes passes a bolt 16 the head 17 of which rests against one of the edged projections 14 and the nut 18 upon the other or threaded end of which rests against the other of the edged projections. The upper bifurcated end of each of the brake-shoes 13 is provided With a pivoted block 19 having an eye 20 through which passesthe cam-shaft y; and between the blocks 19 of the upper endy of the-brakeshoe 13 there is mounted upon the camshaft y/ a helical -or coil-spring 21 which tends to force the upper ends of the brakejaws 13 apart. Each of the latter is formed with a laterally-extending lug 22 which carries a cam-roller 23. Normally the camshaft 1/ is vso turned that the cams 12 press against the cam-rollers 23 and thereby force the brake-shoes 13 against the brake-disk 3, the coil-spring 21 vbeing then'compressed.

One end of the cam-shaft y is squared, as is shown at l1, for the purpose of engaging yin a hole in al suitable crank-handle (not.

shown). This arrangement of parts allows a workman mounted upon the load-carry--` goods to or from the platform will begreatly facilitated; for, the workman mounted upon the platform c can through the endless controlling-cable m control the driving motor e and the brake mechanism represented conventionally in Fig. h by the shaft y. This rock-shaft or cam-shaft y is connected with the shaft e by means of a sprocket-chain e which passes over sprocketwheels y/X, e", mounted on the shafts y, e, respectively. The last-named shaft 2 carries th'e switch-arm' z of the -reversing switch Z. When the arms y, .2 are in the positions shown in Fig. 1, the motor-current is interrupted and the brakes are applied or set.

Vhen the switch-armis thrown upwardly into the dotted line p'osition of Fig. 1, the brakes are released and the motor-current is permitted to flow so that the electric motor through the train of Agearing e', e, ex and t* turns the windlass-drjumc' in such a di-l rection as to wind up the cable f, and Iraise the platform c. When the switch-arm z is thrown down into the position shown by the dash-and-dot line position of Fig. 1, the brakes are released and the motor-current flows through the motor inthe opposite direction so that the windlass-drum z' is turned in a contrary direction by means of the train of gearing just mentioned and the cable f is unwound, whereby the platform o is allowed to descend under the influence of gravity. Q

From the foregoing description the operation of the machine will be readily understood andmay be described as follows: If it be desired tolower the upper hinged section m (as in passin through a doorway from room to room the operator first presses the yoke 7 toward the main frame so as to permit the catch or latch q to be swung. inwardly over the yoke 7?, whereby 'the locking frame fn, is released. After the latter has been pulled outwardly into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, the

pivoted latch g swings outwardly and itsA outward movement is limited by the engagement of its laterally-projecting nose or lip 9" with the adjacent plate j. In lowering the hinged upper section m, it is obvious that the first swinging movement of the top of the section will Y*be upward and that, if

provision were not made for lowering the gravity), one of the arms of the locking frame n is arranged to engage the roller t i y at the lower end of the rocker-arm s, which arm adjacent to it and the other or inner rocker-arm u dropping down. Should the rock-shaft r not be turned sufficiently under the influence of gravity, the sheave' o will in any event 'be pulled down `by the tension of the cable w as the top of the section m moves upwardly. In this way the switchoperating endless cable m is given suiicient slack to permit the hinged section ml to be swung on its hinges lc without putting the cable under undue tension.

After the hinged section m has been swung upwardly, in restoring it to its initial or normal position, which is its operative position (see full-line position of Fig. 1), the locking frame n is allowed to swing downwardly' toward the main` frame and l will automatically and under the inHuence of gravity take its locking position, the cam face g of the pivoted detent z] permitting the yoke p to pass under the catch, which then swings outwardly into its initial position wherein it retains the locking frame in locking position. Since, as before explained, an, outward swing-of the hinged upper section m'results in an upward movement of the top of the section during the initial stages of, the outward swing, it is v obvious that any tendency of the section to swing outwardly will be resisted by the enga'gement of the yoke p withthe plates y' of the main frame.

When it is desired to raise the load-carrying platform, the switch-arm e is thrown upwardly into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1; and this movement of the switch-arm turns the shaft z and through the sprocket-wheel 2X, the sprocket-chain 2', the sprocket-wheel dr/X and the lbrake-shaft g/ throws the controlling-arm y upwardlyand therethrough moves the endless cable af: so that the upper stop m is displaced downwardly a short distance. The platform c 'in its upward movement carries its arm 2 into contact with the stop as and moves the same upwardly into its ini-tial position and thereby moves the endless cable so as to re-v store the arm y to the position shown in Fig. 1; and this downward movement of the arm y will be communicated through the brake-shaft y, the sprocket-wheel-jz/", the sprocket-chain z', the sprocket-wheel z* and the shafts to the switch-operating'arm 2, which will now be restored to its full-line position shown in Fig. 1. As hereinbefore explained, when the switch-arm a is thrown upwardly into its dotted-line position 0f Fig. 1 and the arm y is correspondingly swung upwardly, the brake-shaft so as to release the brake.

When the arm y is in the horizontal position shown in Fig. 1, the brake-shaft y is turned so as to set or` apply the brakes and at this time the motor current is interrupted. To lower the` platform c, the switch-arm z is thrown downwardly into its dash-and-dot line position shown in Fig. 1 and the arm y is through the sprocket mechanism swung downwardly also, whereby the'cable af is moved so as to displace upwardly slightly the lower stopwv. lWhen the platformV c approaches the lower limit y is turned of its travel, its arm 2 strikes the lower stop zr and restores the-same to its initial position and thereby moves the endless cable -to an extent suicient to restore the arms y', e totheir initial positions shown in full lines in Fig. 1. Of course, the motor-current may be interrupted at any time by simply moving the arm z into its horizontal position` and this may be done either by seizing the arm directly or by pulling upon the cable Furthermore, it is to be observed that a workman mounted upon the platform c may through the cable m control the brake-shaft 3/ and the electric motor e so as to position with great nicety the loadcarrying platform c at any landing or tier within the range of the machine; and this feature makes possible a. speedy and economical operation of the machine since the workman mounted uponr the platform has at hand means for directly controlling the position of the platform and'is not required to shout his instructions to another workman stationed in charge of the arm e'.

In accordance with the provisions of the pate-nt statutes we have described the principle of operation of our invention, together with the apparatus which we now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof; but we desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only representative and that the invention can be carried out by other means.

We claim:

1. A tiering machine having a main frame; an extension section hinged thereto; a load-carrying platform; mechanism for raising the latter; and a locking device car- -ried by the extension section and arranged locking-frame being adapted to serve as a means for manipulating the extension section.

3. A tiering machine having a main frame; an extension section hinged thereto; a load-carrying platform; power-driven mechanism for raising the latter; means for controlling said power-driven mechanism; and a locking device which controls the position of said means and is car ried by' the eXtension section and arranged to engage the main frame and thereby to lock the same and the extension section together. i

4.. A tiering machine having a main frame; an 'extension section hinged thereto; a load-carrying "platform; power-driven mechanism for raising the latter; a cable for controlling said mechanism; a pulley which is carried by said section and over which said cable is rove; means `by which said pulley is moved to control the tension on said cable; and a locking device which controls said means and which is carried by said section and arranged to engage the main frame and thereby to lock the same and said ysection together.

5. A tiering machine having a main frame; a load-carrylng platform mounted free to move therein; power-driven mechanism for raising said platform; brake mechanism for controlling said power-driven mechanism; a rock-shaft by the oscillation of which said brake mechanism is applied and released; power-controlling mechanism by which the power supplied `to said powerdriven mechanism is varied; connecting means by which said power-controlling mechanism is operatively connected with said rock-shaft; a rocker-arm mounted on mower said rock-shaft; and a cable to which said Vrocker-arm is operatively connected and which is controlled by said load-carrying platform, said rocker-arm being capable of being swung by said cable to apply and release said-brake mechanism and vary the power supplied to said power-driven mechanism.

6. A tiering machine having a main frame; a load-carrying platform mounted tively connected with said rock-shaft; a4

rocker-arm mounted on said rock-shaft;

and a cable to which said rocker-armv is operatively connected and which is controlled by said load-carrying platform, said rocker-arm being 'capable of being swung by said cab-le to apply and release said brake mechanism andto control said switch mechanism and vary the current supplied to said electric motor. i

Signed at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson 'and State of New Jersey, this 17th day of April, A. D., 1913, in the presence of the two undersigned witnesses.

a WILLIAM EDWARD-Bonner.

I HENRI SHELDEN cannoni), IR.

Witnesses:

RAYMOND D. FISK; WILLIAM C. COLLINS. 

